Shadow Bane
by Shadow Halo
Summary: Takes place after the Chunin Exam. Konoha has to deal with all the damage that's been done, and the only way to do that is by continuing their lives as best they can.


A/N: I highly advise that if you're following the English version of the Anime and haven't seen past what they're currently on, then DO **NOT** read this unless you care nothing about spoilers. Because there's a pretty big spoiler here in the very first chapter.

This story starts after the Chunin Exam and the Invasion of Konoha. Although there'll be flashbacks (in italics) to develop my characters. I mean, what's Naruto without flashbacks every five minutes? No just kidding, my story won't have _that_ many flashbacks. And when it does have flashbacks, they'll actually be relevant to the story.

ALSO, another note: I'm for the most part using the English translations of everything, except for a few things. Such as Konoha and Kyuubi, I just find that they're better names to say than English ones, and also I don't think that either of those terms should have been exempt from the dub, because they kept so many other Japanese terms, why not those? Jeez.

Anyway, now to the story! Yes I do have my own original characters as the main focus, but don't worry! I'm content with my ability to write and I think I'll do a good job (I hope I can finish the fic though ) and there'll also definitely be canon characters. All the time. So don't worry, it's not just about my characters.

Alright! I think I covered everything I needed to. Boy that was a long introduction, but oh well. On to the story!

**Chapter One: The Chunin Exam**

Deep in the forest of Konoha, a team of Leaf Genin train for the upcoming Chunin Exam. One of them brought up the fact that all of the first year Genin are competing. The other two thought it a joke, but it wasn't.

"Either way it's too bad for them," Neji Hyuuga finished. Rock Lee and Tenten replied with a smirk.

"Don't be so sure, Neji," a calm, familiar voice spoke. Kojiro Shimada and his two female teammates – unlike the normal one female and two males -- appeared from the shadows of the forest. "Some of those Genin are capable of being exceptional shinobi."

"I'm not worried."

Kojiro slightly scowled and said quietly, "you should be."

"How do you know what we're up against?" Tenten asked with a tone of accusation.

"Ayumi here is pretty good at gathering information," Kojiro gestured to his empathetic teammate. She smiled at the complement.

"I doubt any of them can match _my_ Taijutsu," Rock Lee grinned happily while kicking the air.

"That's probably true," Kojiro admitted, "but one of them is an Uchiha."

Kojiro would have continued to explain, but all three of Neji's team understood exactly what it meant. Rock Lee wasn't as enthusiastic at this point. But he was still sure he wouldn't be beaten by a younger, less experienced Genin, "I'll still be the one who wins."

Kojiro kindheartedly smirked, "we'll see about that."

-----

"_Let's go, Kojiro," Zarashi Shimada encouraged. "One more time!"_

"_I'm trying, dad!" Kojiro called out. "This isn't as easy as you made it look."_

"_You won't get anywhere by complaining," Zarashi walked over to his young son and rested a palm on his head. "This is the most basic technique of our clan, and you're at a perfect age to learn it."_

_Kojiro's defiant eyes looked up into his father's dark, compassionate eyes. His father wasn't angry; in fact he was smiling, perhaps because he was proud of Kojiro. The young boy didn't understand why, although that warm expression helped him calm down._

"_Maybe I should inform you about our clan," Zarashi started._

"_I know, we manipulate shadows," Kojiro crossed his arms bitterly and stared at the ground, "just like the Nara clan."_

"_That's not true. We're different from them as much as possible, because we try not to use techniques that were created by the other." Zarashi paused for a minute to let these words sink in, then continued, "in fact, you have potential to be better than them."_

_Kojiro looked up again with his eyes lit up, "really?!"_

"_Really."_

_Kojiro grinned, "then I'll keep trying, until I master Shadow Clones. One I do that, I'll master every other ability passed through my blood!"_

"_Excellent," his father beamed, "now let's see you try again."_

"_All right!" Zarashi backed off and allowed Kojiro to concentrate. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" That time the clone was perfect._

-----

The first task of the Chunin exam had begun: a test. The students weren't thrilled about that.

_I know Ayumi will be fine, _Kojiro assumed, _but I wonder how Maaya will deal with it._

Maaya learned a lot of techniques over the past year of being a Genin, a good variety. But from what Kojiro saw, none of them could increase her brain size. Though she was smart with logic, if she saw a book it'd burst into flames before she read one word of it.

_What the . . .? These questions are lame, there's no way any of us could know the answers. _It seems that a lot of the Genin were realizing that fact. And with that knowledge, they learned that they'd have to cheat to get any answers. _Maybe there's a chance for Maaya after all._

Kojiro closed his eyes and silently concentrated. A small portion of his shadow split off from under him and crept away across the floor. It was hidden from view by the desks, and it was too insignificant to notice anyway. Once Kojiro found a suitable target, his small shadow slid up the desk and joined with the shadow casting from the person's hand that held the pencil.

_That should be enough. _The shadow separated again, and slinked back to merge with Kojiro's shadow again. _Perfect, I can shadow just the movements of the hand and the pencil. This'll be a breeze now._

As for Kojiro's teammates, Ayumi was having an easy time. Her Kekkai Genkai allows her to hear for about a hundred feet. And if she's in a room, it doesn't matter how small of a whisper it is or how far away, if she wanted to, she could hear it as clear as if someone was talking clearly into her ear. Someone was whispering the answers to himself to help think straight, which was how Ayumi easily got the answers.

Maaya, however, didn't have anything written down for most of the time. She couldn't think of anything that would allow her to steal answers. Eventually she decided the best thing to do was take quick glances at her shoulder partner's paper. She found that basic cheating skills would work on this test, and she was able to whip up a few bogus answers, hopefully good enough to pass.

In the end, they were all able to pass. Just like everyone else who stayed for the tenth question. They're answers meant nothing.

"Phew, great," Maaya said relieved. "That means even if all my answers are wrong, I still pass."

Then it was on to the second task.

-----

The three members of Team 7 had been idly standing around in the Forest of Death -- the second exam -- near a large tree, as well as a bunch of other, less massive trees. As Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha waited for their comrade to finish business in the bushes, Kojiro and his two kunoichi teammates dropped from above. This was the first time Kojiro would get to meet the last Uchiha in Konoha. As well as a certain boy with demonic powers hidden inside.

"Sasuke," Kojiro said calmly, "I've been wanting to meet you."

Instead of responding, Sasuke just stared at the new appearance, contemplating over weather Kojiro was friendly or not. Considering the Leaf symbol on his headband, he seemed to be an ally. Of sorts.

"I'm interested to see how far you've come," Kojiro continued. "Let's see if the last remaining Uchiha has the skill passed down from his clan."

"Wait just a minute!" shouted a childish voice from the brush. Naruto Uzumaki stepped out of the greenery, zipping up his fly before pointing a finger eagerly at Kojiro. "I'm tired of everyone always wanting to fight Sasuke!" he continued in the same loud voice, apparently making sure he was heard. "I'm the strongest! I'm gonna be Hokage!"

"Naruto Uzumaki . . ." Kojiro mused, "I know full and well who you are."

"So you should know that I'm the one you want to fight!"

Kojiro glanced at Sasuke, wondering. He wouldn't mind having a go at the Kyuubi kid. But chances were, Naruto didn't have any control of his demon powers. Fighting him meant fighting a ninja with no special abilities. At least now it meant that.

"Go ahead and fight him," Sasuke proposed coolly, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Once you get beat, I'll take over."

Whether Naruto either didn't care, or didn't hear Sasuke's second remark, he yelled with delight and prepared himself.

"Alright, I don't mind," Kojiro smiled. He turned his head around to his kunoichi companions, "you might want to take a step back."

"Yeah," the brown haired Ayumi Sakurai walked back toward the nearest tree, Maaya Mitani followed, her black hair flowing in a trail behind her.

"Let's see what you got, Naruto." Kojiro adjusted his gray vest, making sure it was secure over his black shirt. Naruto did no adjusting; he jumped right into using his signature move.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he cried. Five more Naruto's appeared in puffs of smoke, all grinning the same mischievous way.

Kojiro's smile shifted slightly to a smirk of his own, "I can match that." He made the necessary hand sign to mold his chakra, then created just as much of himself as Naruto had. Kojiro could read the dumbfounded look he had formed on the blonde ninja's face, and without hearing the question, he answered nonetheless. "You're dealing with my bloodline here. I've been using Shadow Clones since I was seven."

"What?!" Naruto crossed his arms in frustration and mumbled sourly to himself, "I thought I was the only Genin that could use that technique . . ."

"Come on, Naruto," Kojiro taunted, knowing Naruto wouldn't resist. In the next instant, the Shadow Clones were clashing with fists and kunai. Each one of them were annihilated in one hit, and the only ones that were left standing was the real Kojiro, cross-armed, and the real Naruto, glaring with clenched fists.

Without Shadow Clones as a trump card, Naruto was out of tricks. Kojiro, however, wasn't. There was no reason to stay put anymore, Naruto stood still for too long. With what appeared to be a single movement, Kojiro closed in on Naruto with a sweeping kick to the kid's legs. Naruto lost his footing. Kojiro quickly followed up by spinning and planting a kick with the back of his leg into Naruto's cheekbone, accelerating the Genin face first into a tree. The one, in fact, that Kojiro's teammates were next to -- they had to step out of the way of Naruto's path.

Ayumi bent down out of sympathy to help Naruto sit up, "maybe you should give up, Kojiro isn't one to be taken lightly."

"I know who he is!" Naruto exclaimed all of a sudden. "He's just like Neji, a pompous jerk who thinks they're better than everyone else."

_BAM!_

Naruto received a hard right hook to the opposite cheek that hadn't already been hit. "Don't EVER compare me to Neji," Kojiro scolded, "Him and I are completely different. You have no clue who I am."

"Then who are you, huh?!" Naruto rubbed his cheek, "why don't you fill me in?!

"My name is Kojiro Shimada. I may be in the same year as Neji, but I don't think I'm better than everyone else. I just know who I'm better than. You happen to be one of those people."

"Oh yeah?! I'll show you!" Naruto blindly jumped to his feet and threw a punch at Kojiro, which was easily deflected. The next thing Naruto knew, he was skidding into the ground. But like every other time, he just got right back up and charged again.

This time Kojiro didn't have to stop the angered Genin. Not directly anyway. A different force was the cause of Naruto halting immediately. Looking down, Naruto realized that there were two dark hands holding onto his ankles, sprouting from the ground.

"You have a lot of potential, Naruto," Kojiro admitted. "But currently, you don't have enough strength to defeat me." He raised one hand and made a simple sign, "_True_ Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Naruto grimaced at first, then when he realized that the hands holding him down were starting to grow arms, then a head, and the rest of the body followed. The figure looked exactly like Kojiro, except for the fact that it was a complete shadow figure. No visible eyes, or face at all. It still held on to Naruto to keep him from escaping Kojiro's speech.

"This is a real Shadow Clone. Unlike the regular ones that we normally use, this one won't fade in just one hit. It'll take a lot more." _Although it does take a considerable amount of chakra to create,_ Kojiro thought.

"Oh yeah? Then let's just see how much it can take!" Naruto struggled against the shadow's grasp, but he couldn't get free.

"It's useless Naruto, just accept that you aren't strong enough yet. Sasuke isn't even strong enough now." That remark caught the rest of the Uchiha's attention that wasn't already focused on Kojiro and Naruto's quarrel, but he still said nothing. "You both need to get stronger, you've barely started to understand what a real shinobi can do."

"That's enough," Sasuke spoke up. "It's my turn now."

"Perfect," Kojiro smirked happily. The shadow figure let go of Naruto and disappeared into the ground where it had come from. But Naruto didn't move. His pride was hit hard, and he didn't want to give up, he had to be strong, he had to be a Hokage one day.

With a cry for more, he lunged toward Kojiro, fist reared back as far as it could go. Kojiro didn't move from his spot, there was no need. This time, Sasuke was the one that caught Naruto's punch.

"That's enough, Naruto," Sasuke said, "You had your turn. Now let me finish it."

"Oh Sasuke!" Sakura squealed, "you're so cool!"

No one paid any mind to Sakura, at least not the males of the bunch; there was too much tension between the three. However, Ayumi and Maaya scoffed silently at Sakura's fan girl-ism.

Finally, Naruto gave it up and stomped back toward Sakura to sit cross-legged on the ground, pouting. Sasuke and Kojiro didn't say a word to each other, both were filled with anticipation.

"Let's try to make this quick," Kojiro suggested. "We don't want to be here all day."

"Sharingan!" Sasuke skipped formalities and entered his battle stance; his Sharingan eyes pierced into Kojiro like knives, if those knives were harmless and could easily be shrugged off anyway.

With the same speed as before, Kojiro initiated the fight with the first attack: a simple punch. Sasuke read the movement and evaded the fist easily, then reared his arm back for his own attack. He wasn't able to release though; Kojiro pelted Sasuke in the gut, then swiftly knocked the Uchiha back with a forward kick.

Sasuke hastily regained his footing in order to catch another of Kojiro's punches with his palm. Then again he had to block, and dodge, and catch. Kojiro was moving too fast for Sasuke to keep up with, it kind of reminded the Uchiha of someone. A bushy-browed Taijutsu master he had met a while back.

Eventually, Sasuke found his chance, an opening in Kojiro's movements. Using his eyes to pinpoint the area to attack, Sasuke flung his leg up. Yet he only swept through the air, he didn't collide with his target, and that was unfortunate for him. A split second later, the sole of Kojiro's shoe bashed into Sasuke's chin, sending the Uchiha skyward. Kojiro regained his footing and soared up toward his opponent. Floating above Sasuke, Kojiro stretched his arm back and shot it forward like a slingshot.

Sasuke closed his eyes, preparing for the impact. But it never came. When he opened his eyes, he was staring into the knuckles that were barely touching his face.

Kojiro flipped forward and landed on the ground, Sasuke stylishly pulled off a back flip and dropped to his feet. Both Kojiro and Sasuke stood with backs facing each other, until Sasuke turned to speak. But Kojiro cut him off.

"There's no reason to continue and ware ourselves out. We still need our strength for this exam. I had no intention of crippling you." Kojiro finally turned to face Sasuke, smiling. "Your Sharingan is impressive. You were able to see my movements and predict -- for the most part -- where I was attacking from. But I know you've been told before, it doesn't help if your body can't keep up.

"I knew it," Sasuke stated, "that last move you used on me was like Lee's-"

"Except it wasn't," Kojiro cut in, "it may have been based off of him, but I added my own variation to it. I may not have eyes like yours, but I have my own ways to mimic others. From using my normal eyes to watch how an attack is pulled off, I can shadow the movement for it. That's the main ability of my Kekkai Genkai. But I also add my own knowledge of Taijutsu and techniques into the mix."

"So you're just another copy-cat ninja?" Sasuke wondered.

"Not exactly . . ." Kojiro paused, "think of me as a shadow that doesn't imitate a person's movements exactly."

-----

Preliminaries. There were too many that had succeeded through the Forest of Death. So instead of moving onto the third task, they had to weed out some of the combatants.

"I'm out," Ayumi raised her hand. Kojiro gave her a look, and she explained, "I'm worn out from the forest, and I don't think I'm cut out for this right now. There's too many ninja here that I wouldn't stand a chance against."

"She has a point," Maaya admitted. "As for me, I don't care enough for this. Had there been less who go to this point, I might participate, but since that's not the case . . ." she raised her hand.

"We'll be watching though, Kojiro," Ayumi smiled. "Make sure you win."

"I will."

Kojiro examined all the fights closely. A lot of the Genin impressed him. Sasuke and Naruto were notable, as they both pulled out surprising victories. The ninja that astonished Kojiro the most though, was the psychopathic sand shinobi with an incomprehensible bloodlust in his eyes.

"That Gaara is a serious case," Kojiro said to himself, right after Rock Lee had been defeated in a big upset. "His power is unreal."

"I wonder if you'll have to fight him later," Maaya wondered aloud. Her and Ayumi had been standing next to Kojiro the whole time, watching all of the fights pass by. And now there were only four more combatants left.

"Poor Lee," Ayumi sympathized, "I hope he'll be alright."

"It looked pretty serious," Maaya replied.

"Well . . . I bet you're next," she turned to Kojiro with a change of subject, "there's not many left to fight."

"Only Chouji, that one Sound shinobi, and the one from the Grass village," Kojiro observed, making a quick scan of the large room.

"Didn't that guy arrive here alone?" Ayumi pointed out.

"Yeah," Kojiro answered. "I think his teammates were killed in the Forest of Death."

"He's your next opponent," Maaya stated matter-of-factly.

"How do you know?" Kojiro questioned disbelievingly.

Maaya pointed at the screen that picks out the next match, not saying a word. The screen made it obvious that Kojiro was in fact against the Grass ninja, named Kaguo.

"The next match is Kojiro Shimada against Kaguo Gukara," Hayate the proctor announced between a cough. "Both combatants, report down to the arena immediately."

Kojiro smirked pleasantly, "talk to you later." He raised a hand and formed it into a hand sign to concentrate. He melted away into the shadows, and reappeared from a shadow on the floor.

"Stylish," Ayumi chuckled to herself.

Kaguo simply walked down to the floor, then took his place feet in front of Kojiro. There wasn't much to the Grass ninja's appearance, Kojiro noticed that Kaguo had no enthusiasm or anticipation in his eyes; he just looked tired and bored. His dirty blonde hair dangled lazily around his head, and instead of wearing his headband around his forehead to keep that hair out of his eyes, he'd prefer to tie it around his leg.

"Liven up," Kojiro said, positioning himself in a fighting stance.

"Don't worry," Kaguo spoke, his voice firm and deep, "I assure you this'll be an exciting fight."

Kojiro grinned, "good to know."

"Begin!" Hayate shouted.

Kaguo didn't move from his spot, Kojiro did. With speed like Rock Lee's, Kojiro closed in on his opponent and pounded his fist into the Grass ninja's jaw. Then sequentially kneed him in the stomach, causing Kaguo to keel over, leaving himself open for Kojiro's foot to connect with his face. Within the next instant, Kaguo was lodged into the wall while Kojiro stood with his arms crossed.

"If this is all you got, then this fight is over," Kojiro declared, "I know you aren't being serious." Kaguo dropped from the wall and landed easily on his feet, his injuries hadn't fazed him. A slight smirk crept its way onto Kojiro's face.

"Just wanted to see . . ." Kaguo said unruffled, "I wanted to see your power."

"Tch. You haven't seen anything yet," Kojiro clasped his hands together, forming a variation of the rat sign. "Shadow Manipulation Jutsu!"

"I've seen that already," Kaguo stated.

"From Shikamaru, right?" Kojiro smirked, knowing that his technique was completely different.

"They don't have to bring me into this," Shikamaru whispered, "how troublesome."

Part of Kojiro's shadow separated and sped across the floor toward Kaguo. The Grass ninja saw it clearly and jumped out of the way from its path. He didn't realize though that he wasn't the target, and he failed to see the small shadow take a resting position within the shadow of the balcony.

"You'll have to try better than that," Kaguo proclaimed with a straight face.

Kojiro didn't reply, instead he withdrew a kunai from his leg pouch and ducked low to the ground, swiftly taking a few steps to the side and throwing the kunai as hard as he could. Kaguo sidestepped the speeding weapon, and the blade pierced into the wall.

"How 'bout this!"

_THWACK!_

Kaguo skidded over the floor and collided with the wall, a red mark on his cheek. He placed a hand over it, his eyes looked like they were shaking. "That hurt . . ." his eyes narrowed and glared at Kojiro. The shadow ninja lowered his fist and relaxed.

"Looks like I hit a nerve."

"A big one. No more playing around with you now." Kaguo hopped up to his feet and consecutively formed different hand signs to mold his chakra.

_About time I get to see what you can do,_ Kojiro watched intently.

From under Kaguo's sleeve, a vine sprouted out into a whip. With a minor growl, the Grass ninja lashed out all of a sudden. The green whip made a big arc across the floor, closing in fast on Kojiro.

Without hesitation, the shadow ninja bounded upwards to evade the vine. But however fast and high he soared, the whip still wrapped around his ankle.

"Dammit!"

The floor was approaching fast, Kojiro had to think just as quick. He struggled to make his hand sign, but he managed it just in time. Once the vine conveyed Kojiro to the floor, instead of a collision, he fell through into a shadow of his own. The vine couldn't hold on inside of the shadow and was forced to let go.

There was nowhere for the shadow to hide, Kaguo could see it clearly. So he'd be able to see Kojiro pop up again, and his whip was willing and ready.

"Come on out," Kaguo encouraged impatiently, "there's no where you'll be able to run, you might as well get it over wi—" his speech was interrupted by a sharp blow to the back of the head. Kaguo dropped hard to the floor and stained the tiles with some of his blood.

"Now what were you saying?" Kojiro taunted. His breathing was out of pace, he's already used up a lot of stamina in this fight. Though he still had plenty left.

"What . . .?" Kaguo's eyes were filled with shock, something that Kojiro didn't think he'd be able to manage. But the expression didn't stick for long; Kaguo scanned the wall behind Kojiro and realized what had happened. "That shadow from before, it wasn't meant for me . . ."

"Exactly. It was meant for me," Kojiro smirked again, impressed that his opponent figured it out so easily.

"So you can travel between your shadows."

"Yup."

"Interesting." Kaguo raised himself from the floor, back up onto his feet once again. "Guess I'll just have to try harder." Once again, he lashed his whip.

"I won't fall for that again, True Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A shadow figure of Kojiro rose from the floor and caught the vine with its hands. It made sure to keep a firm grasp on it, to keep it from escaping, this left Kojiro free to attack, and Kaguo vulnerable.

However, Kojiro wasn't able to get close. Kaguo released the vine, and it wrapped around the shadow figure, and another one was instantly created and caught Kojiro around the ankle again.

"That didn't work out well," Kojiro said to himself as the whip carried him into the air and twirled him around.

"You can't use your shadows if you're not in contact with a solid surface!" Kaguo announced as he whipped his vine around and around.

_How did he figure that out?_ Kojiro was amazed at Kaguo's interpretation skills. Maybe it was just logic though. "No reason to keep my true shadow clone then," Kojiro released his shadow clone and it disappeared, leaving the vines that had been immobilizing it useless on the floor. He was quickly getting dizzy; he slammed his eyes shut to brace himself. Though it didn't help much. He couldn't make another shadow figure, and regular shadow clones wouldn't help at all.

"You might as well give up!" Kaguo shouted, "what can you do now?"

"Let's try this," Kojiro said, grabbing his leg and pulling himself toward the vine that grasped him. He took out a kunai and slashed, but the vine didn't even get a scratch.

"My vines are indestructible! There's no way you'll be able to cut through it."

"Damn," Kojiro cursed. He took a chance and threw the kunai, hoping that it might hit his opponent. But it missed horribly. _Then there's no other choice._

Kaguo was too focused on Kojiro to see the events taking place behind him. A shadowy hand was reaching out of the shadow from the balcony, and clasping its hand over the handle of the kunai stuck in the wall.

_I can still use some techniques as long as I separated my shadow,_ Kojiro grinned as best he could, trying to get past to horrible dizziness. The kunai was thrown, and it hit its target: Kaguo's hand.

"Ahh!" Kaguo yelled in frustration. Blood splattered out from his hand, staining the blade stabbed into his skin. The vine had been released as its wielder's attention had been averted, and Kojiro fell to the floor, managing to slip into his shadow once again.

"That bastard," Kaguo swore, ripping the kunai from his hand and scanning around for his enemy. "Where'd he go now?" He reeled back, glaring at the area where Kojiro popped out from before. But there was nothing there, not even the shadow hand.

_That was close,_ Kojiro rested inside of his shadow for a minute with his eyes closed, trying to get over his lightheadedness. _I have to end this now, if he has any other techniques, I can't let him use them._

Kojiro reappeared from his shadow, fast; making sure that there was no whip waiting for him. There wasn't. Whether because Kaguo couldn't manage it with his injury, or just because he hesitated, it didn't matter. Kojiro took his chance, fast. Serpent, Hare, Horse, Dog, Rat. Kojiro initiated each hand sign in a blink of the eye expertly, and a long, dark shadow stretched out from him. It started narrow from it's initial point, and expanded into a wider radius the farther it went.

Located at the center of the shadow was Kaguo, and in a millisecond, Kojiro was behind the Grass Ninja, arms crossed. The shadow beneath them disappeared, and Kaguo fell straight to the floor, landing flat on his face. He was out cold.

"Uh . . ." Hayate coughed, then continued with his dull voice, "it seems Kojiro is the winner."

"How did that happen?!" Naruto yelled out, "one second he was there, then the next he was there!"

"Actually, he hit Kaguo about twenty times before he ended up behind him," Ayumi explained.

"WHAT?!"

"That shadow of his allowed him to move at an incredible speed," Ayumi went on. "If someone is caught in it, Kojiro can hit them enough times that it'll knock them out."

"It's pretty amazing," Maaya cut in.

"It sure is."

-----

The third task of the Chunin exam was nothing for Kojiro, because he didn't get to fight. The invasion of Konoha began before the fourth match could even end, although that was the fight that began it. Once again, Sasuke surprised everyone by unleashing a new assassination technique on the Sand demon known as Gaara.

_You never cease to amaze me, Sasuke,_ Kojiro thought. _You and Naruto both. I still can't believe he learned how to use the Kyuubi chakra to his advantage, and even beat Neji._

His thoughts were cut off though. He became sleepy, and eventually was swept off into darkness.

When he woke up, the invasion was over. The Sound and Sand shinobi had run away, leaving Konoha partially destroyed and one less Hokage.

_How could this have happened?_ Kojiro couldn't believe it still, even though he was standing with the rest of Konoha, wearing all black, in front of the Third's coffin. _I could have helped out if I wasn't asleep, stupid Genjutsu._

It didn't matter though. It had passed, and Konoha had to face a rough time of rebuilding their village, along with finding a new Hokage.


End file.
